Levi Strauss & Co. is keeping tabs on its tabs. The company filed a complaint against Vineyard Vines for trademark infringement in California Northern District Court Friday.
The filed complaint stems from a small tab on the back pocket of Vineyard Vines pants, which Levi’s says infringes upon its trademarked tab design.
The originators of the famous 501 jean filed in Oakland Friday, against Connecticut-based Vineyard Vines.
This isn’t Levi’s first go in the court room according to a New York Times report, having acquired a litigious name for itself back in 2007 with a number of trademark infringement lawsuits, covering everything from pockets to tabs.
“The tab trademark is famous and recognized around the world and throughout the United States by consumers as signifying authentic, high quality Levi’s jeans and pants,” the company wrote, according to Law360. “Vineyard Vines has manufactured, sourced, marketed, and/or sold substantial quantities of jeans and pants bearing pocket tab devices that are highly similar [and] likely to confuse consumers.”
The lawsuit goes on to explain the history of the tab, created in 1936 by a company executive aiming to show the Levi’s branding to consumers.
“Given the distinctiveness of the Tab trademark, [the executive] asserted that ‘no other maker of overalls can have any other purpose in putting a colored tab on an outside patch pocket, unless for the express and sole purpose of copying our mark, and confusing the customer,’” Levi’s wrote according to the report.
Vineyard Vines has yet to make a public statement. The case is pending.
